Kunitz, Pahlsson keep Ducks surging

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) - Home ice truly has been an
advantage for the Anaheim Ducks this season, and that held true
as they skated to a 3-1 triumph over the Montreal Canadiens on
Sunday.

Chris Kunitz and Samuel Pahlsson scored goals 33 seconds apart
midway through the third period to snap a 1-1 tie as Anaheim
tied a franchise record by extending its home winning streak to
seven games. The Ducks have accomplished this feat three times
- and twice this season.

Todd Marchant also scored for Anaheim, which improved to 12-3-0
in its last 15 games.

Alexei Kovalev scored the lone goal for Montreal, which fell to
9-4-0 in its last 13 games.

The victory gave Anaheim a five-game sweep at home against the
Northeast Division.

"It's so important to play well at home and try and get the
wins," Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. "As of
late, we've really done that. We've really made a statement
that you are going to have a tough time winning in our barn. We
like playing here, there's a lot of energy in the building, the
fans have been great. It's just a lot of fun playing here
right now."

"I think that every team likes to have a dominance, and I think
that that's a credit to our fans, that they've supported us and
there's lot of energy in our building, and we feel comfortable,"
Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said.

Carlyle said he doesn't put any great significance on the
domination of the Northeast Division.

"We think that we have lots of work ahead of us," he said.
"We're fortunate that we've had some success against the
Northeast Division. I don't look at it anything other than
that."

All-Star Ryan Getzlaf sent a pass across the crease to a
streaking Kunitz for the go-ahead goal with 7:24 remaining and
Pahlsson recorded a shorthanded goal 33 ticks later to increase
the lead.

Defenseman Scott Niedermayer brought the puck down the left
wing, stopped above the circle and fed Pahlsson inside the right
circle. Pahlsson then put a wrist shot high into the right
hand corner for his sixth goal of the season.

"They were down, they have to take those chances and we got a
2-on-1 there," Pahlsson said. "It's a perfect pass and I had a
pretty much open net to put it in. They got a chance to come
back in the game and tie it up on a power play. It's a real good
upswing for us and it's tough for them."

"You can't say enough about (Niedermayer) jumping up into the
play like that," Kunitz said. "Sammy always seems like almost
never to miss those. He's got quite a shot on the one-timer on
that side. Motivational-wise for the guys, it kind of gave us
that cushion at 3-1 and we could keep playing."

Getzlaf said he wasn't necessarily trying to pass to Kunitz for
the game-winner.

"I was more trying to direct pucks at the net than hit (Kunitz)
backdoor," Getzlaf said. "It was a play that (Kunitz) went to
the net hard and he was able to tap it in."

"You assume it's either going to either hit off the goalie or
redirect that way, so you go to the net," Kunitz said. "It goes
off the net and kind of hits my stick and shin pads and goes
in. It's just kind of the bounces are right now."

The goals came against rookie goaltender Carey Price, who made
34 saves.

"It's tough to give up a goal in the last period. It's even
tougher to give up two," Price said. "You know you are so close
the whole game and it's tough to lose the game in third
period."

"He was really good," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said of
Price. "I think we were really hard on him by taking those
penalties. But he stood really strong. It's too bad at the end
they got two on him, but until then, I thought we played really
well."

The Canadiens were called for eight penalties to four for
Anaheim.

"I think 5-on-5 we were pretty close to being better than them,"
Carbonneau said. "We gave them eight power plays. That means
you have to spend a lot of time in your zone and you have to use
the same guys all the time. I think the game was downhill from
there."

Kovalev questioned the disparity.

"I'm not really concerned, but it's a lack of stability in the
league," Kovalev said. "Maybe there's different rules in the
West Coast than in the East Coast."

Anaheim took a 1-0 lead just 21 seconds into the game on an
unusual goal by Marchant.

Marchant sent a pass to Doug Weight, who was behind the net.
Weight batted at a flying puck, but missed before it hit rookie
Price in the back and went into the net. After a review, the
goal was allowed.

"I think it hit a stick and went way up in the air. I didn't
know where it was," Price said. "I thought it went out of play,
but I guess it went straight up in the air and landed in the
net. It's just a tough break, especially at the start of the
game."

The goal for Anaheim ended a scoreless stretch of 130 minutes,
22 seconds - which included back-to-back shutout losses on the
road last week.

"It was a big two points for us," Giguere said. "It was nice
seeing us scoring right off the bat, the first shift. It gave
us a little bit of confidence tonight. I think we dominated the
whole game tonight against a really good team."

"It's a good confidence builder for us," Kunitz said. "Our
power play didn't click tonight. We got a lucky one in the
first goal, (but) we were doing the right things, we were going
to the net, shooting the puck, screening the goalie, playing
well."

Montreal tied the game on Kovalev's 30th goal just 8:44 into the
first period. Mikhail Grabovski received a pass from Andrei
Kostitsyn in the right circle, drawing Giguere out of the net.
Grabovski sent a pass to Kovalev in the slot, who put the puck
into an empty net for the tie.

"We got the guy coming with speed through the middle and I had a
chance to get away while he sort of lost the puck, or something
that happened there," Kovalev said. "I turned around and tried
to join the rush and I found it in the slot."